I stood in the crowded jazzy room of the Argos Inn. In my hand rested my usual: the Brooklyn. This venue makes it classy in a short tumbler with a beautiful round ball of ice. I felt that my all black FLEFF wear suited the space.

I stood talking to the women whose company and work I’ve respected for years, which is that of Vanessa Domico. She is...

There were certain moments during FLEFF week that had the most impact on me. They were given freely as gifts, and now they belong to me, part of who I am as an intellectual individual and an artist. These are the moments where I stopped to think in a way I had never thought...

FLEFF bloggers are not just writers or armchair theorizers. We are part of the staff, which means our job goes beyond attending the festival and writing about it. Sometimes we need to pass out fliers, we need to converse with guests, or we need to promote the festival in a flash mob and attract audiences. We need to be flexible with our time and our work.

Thanks to Ithaca College Office of the Provost, each of us bloggers got two complimentary passes to the festival. With these two passes, I was able to attend 11 film screenings (5 per pass times 2 and then plus one on the house, thanks to the generosity of Cinemapolis and Brett...

Blog post written by Haley Stearns, Still Photography ’15, FLEFF Blogger, Buffalo, New York

Looking back at FLEFF and all of the other blog posts I have written, I realize that my greatest appreciation throughout this entire experience has been having the opportunity to participate in this international film festival. Not only did being a blogger give me a voice on the subject...

Blog post written by Haley Stearns, Still Photography '15, FLEFF Blogger, Buffalo, New York

1. How to think on my feet

Being in interviews with various festival guests and participants, the most important skill I have developed over the course of this experience is learning how to absorb and respond in an efficient manner.

“I was very impressed by how the music seemed to convey the mood of the story even though it was silent,” Ithaca College Senior Hayleigh Gowans, said. She attended the screening of “The Red Kimono,” a 1925 silent film about a small-town girl who succumbs to a toxic romance. The film was produced, written and...

The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival does not box itself into one genre of film, one type of media, or one social issue. This year, the festival featured films and events discussing issues ranging from green burials to drug addiction. Feminism was one of the recurring themes in the festival.

The festival has run its course, the guests have gone home, the posters have been taken down, and the blogging is over - mostly. Two weeks later, the energy of festival week has dissipated, but the impact remains. Three films impacted me in unexpected ways, and cause my mind to wander back to Cinemapolis in my spare...

Blog post by Haley Stearns, Still Photography '15, FLEFF Blogger, Buffalo, New York

As a first year student attending Ithaca College, I originally studied film. As a film student, I had the pleasure of watching Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film, Battleship Potemkin three times prior to viewing it at Cinemapolis on Saturday, April 5th.

Blog post by Haley Stearns, Still Photography ’15, FLEFF Blogger, Buffalo, New York

It’s two days after FLEFF and I cannot stop thinking about all of the moving films that I was able to see this past week. When signing on to be a blogger for this years festival, I had no way of knowing the powerful way that these films and festival guests would impact my interpretation of...

Hockett Recital Hall was filled with an array of guests; students, black t-shirt clad members of the FLEFF staff, community members, families, and more. Caution tape was draped around rails in a hue of orange reminiscent of...

On his way to Ithaca, Andrew Lowenthal from EngageMedia took a moment to speak with me on the phone. Despite a fuzzy connection we managed to have a great conversation about global media engagement and activism. Little did I know that in this conversation I would receive some of the best advice for my future life in media.

Ex-felons face stigmas and exclusion when they move back into their communities. However, Ira McKinley proves his status will not stop him from bringing positive change to his home in Albany, NY. Despite also being homeless, McKinley’s strives to reveal the marginalized by giving them...

Coming to FLEFF is this coming week, is the innovative Andrew Lowenthal. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of EngageMedia, one of my favorite new media projects out there. It is a non-profit media, technology and culture organization that serves as a platform and tool for independent filmmakers,...

Tom Shevory stands at the front of the room and introduces the event and guests. He points to flyers for other events throughout FLEFF week, then begins introducing Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint of Ecoarttech.
She has an impressive list of...

Mary Zebell is a landscape designer and artist who has worked on private and public commissions across the U.S. More specifically, her site-specific public art was commissioned in 2007 by FLEFF, commemorating those killed in war or natural disasters since 2000.

EcoArtTech is an engaging new media project that engages in environmental spaces through mobile technologies – the dichotomy between nature and modernization. Co-creator Lelia Nadir, along with Cary Peppermint, is a special guest at FLEFF this year. Nadir is an Afghan-American critic, scholar, artist and writer teaching...

The American Dissonances concert was a contrasting assembly of American tunes played on two pianos, a bass, a trumpet, a flute, with Mezzo-Soprano vocals. A screen played scenes of iconic geography throughout the U.S., and eclectic historical scenes such as activist movements, early home-videos, airplane...